Introduction

As Volusion continues to help founders grow their businesses and provide them with our ecommerce know-how, it’s important that we have content uniformity to keep our brand accessible and cohesive.

This applies to both written and design content, which is why we’ve put together this handy style guide, which has guidelines for voice and tone, brand colors, logo usage, imagery, grammar and plenty of other brand elements.

We encourage everyone representing the Volusion Brand to familiarize yourselves with this guide and use it as a reference when creating content for our site.

Frequently Asked Questions

What file type should I use for the logo?

Use the PNG files for any on screen use of the logo that are no larger than 800px wide (to avoid pixelation). For logos that will appear larger use the SVG (Scalable Vector Graphic) file type so it will be sharp and crisp at any size.

I can’t find the assets I need?

Please contact our brand represenitive Tracy Turner at tracy.turner@volusion.com with details about the images, assets or content you are needing and how it will be used.

Logos

Below are the guidelines and parameters for the Volusion logo and symbols. In keeping with our brand personality, our logo is bright and simple. These guidelines are put in place to ensure consistent legibility and recognition.

Content Introduction

Volusion has three primary brand goals for every piece of content we publish:

Focused on Your Success

Your business can be a success, and we’re here to help you at every stage of the entrepreneur journey. Do it yourself, or let your experts do it for you while you concentrate on your business

Trusted

We want to represent our products with concise and powerful language that shows the benefit of Volusion and inspires action from users.

Everything You Need

All-in-one. Adaptable to you. Seamless functionality. Made to scale.

Voice, Tone and Content

Voice: What Should We Write?

The voice of our brand is the voice of the founder. We’re founders too, and the voice of our content shows our ability to relate to business owners.

Here are some additional guidelines for our voice:

Trusted, but not boastful.

Humble, but not timid.

Helpful, but not pushy.

Succinct, but not simplistic.

Thought Leader, but not arrogant.

Informative, but not complicated.

Proud, but not showy.

Modern, but not trendy.

Approachable, but not emphatic.

Optimistic, but not overblown.

Clever, but not silly.

Tone: How Should We Sound?

Volusion usually has an informal tone, but it’s important to be clear and concise before being entertaining.

Here are some examples of how we want our voice to sound:

Create a Store Your Customers Will Love We want to be friendly and informative with our tone while still demonstrating the benefits of Volusion. Our product is about helping people succeed, and our focus is on our customers.

Sell with Ease We want to represent our product with concise and powerful language that demonstrates the strength of Volusion and inspires action from users.

My online sales have grown 2X year over year for the past two years with Volusion. We want to feature customer stories/testimonials when possible to show how real people interact with our product.

Content Best Practices

Content should be as concise as possible. Some pieces call for lengthy content, but for most posts it’s best to keep things short.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when writing:

Use Contractions Use contractions whenever possible. This keeps the brand voice informal.Example: “We’re here to help.”

Be Concise Focus on the who, what, when and where, and be sure to have a clear CTA.Example: “Sell with ease.”

Break up Bulky Paragraphs Use bullet points or white space to break up bulky paragraphs.

Use Graphics Make content pop with images, GIFs, photos and more.

Link to Pages Link to blog posts, other pages, support articles and more on Volusion.com

Our blog is the go-to resource for entrepreneurs. We want to provide business advice, lifehacks and inspirational stories of real people using our software.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when writing for the blog:

Include Customer Examples

Whenever possible, use real-life examples of customers using our product.Example: Write "How These 5 Merchants Sell on Amazon with Volusion," not "How to Sell on Amazon Using Volusion."

Focus on Customer Success

Show our customers and readers that we’re proud of our client success!

Link to Relevant Articles on Volusion

We have an extensive ecommerce knowledge base and on-site webinars, guides and more. These are great supplemental resources for posts and should be linked to whenever possible.

Show Expertise and Advice for Customers

Volusion is a one-stop platform for all entrepreneurs, and we're here with the resources they need to get started. We are experts in the ecommerce industry and we aim to do the work so our customers can focus on their business.

Imagery

Volusion’s imagery is authentic featuring real employees, customers and products shownin original spaces and real-life situations. No stock photogrpahy and no stereotypes.

Do use imagery of real employees + events + office

Don't use cliche stock photos of office environments

Do show natural, candid imagery of customers and employees.

Don't feature staged or stock interactions or conversations.

Do show a variety of people (ethnicities, gender, etc).

Don't show people in unrealistic environments.

Do use imagery, stats and quotes from real-life customers.

Don't use stock imagery to demonstrate customer stories.

Do mix real-life objects with product views to tell our story.

Don't use outdated technology or overly staged shots.

Do use imagery that shows our fun and friendly attitude.

Don't show overly sexualized/violent or drinking imagery.

Story + Leadership

Volusion provides a fully hosted platform that allows online merchants to easily design, build, market and manage ecommerce sites from a central location. Our platform is ready to go out of the box, so users don’t need to search for add-ons. Volusion’s dev team saw the need to create a product that would efficiently and effectively serve small- and medium-sized businesses, and eventually delivered a platform with more than 900 features that helps these businesses attract, convert and retain customers.

Management Team

As Founder and CEO, Kevin Sproles drives Volusion's overall strategic vision while overseeing all facets of the company's operations. Kevin originally started coding and designing websites early on in his career, and his passion quickly grew into a business. Out of the numerous clients he quickly acquired, most started to request the same need – a shopping cart. At this time, shopping cart software was in its infancy. Always up for a challenge, Kevin took the endeavor head on. With very little money and a great deal of perseverance, he started coding shopping cart software and Volusion was created in 1999.

In Volusion's early stages, Kevin worked by request to build software that fit clients' needs, often staying up all night implementing a new feature. He notes that his favorite thing to tell clients was, "Remember that feature you asked about yesterday? Here you go." This mentality remains a core value at Volusion to this day and drives its developers to continually implement new features and functionality to benefit those who know it best – their customers.

Derek Willis, General Counsel and Secretary, is responsible for worldwide legal affairs for Volusion, including all corporate, commercial, IP, litigation and compliance matters. As the leader of our legal team, Derek is also focused on developing a legal strategy that assists Volusion in achieving its key strategic goals and advises management and the board of directors on corporate governance matters.

Prior to joining Volusion in October 2012, Derek was a corporate/securities partner in the Austin, Texas office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he built a practice focused on public offerings, mergers and acquisitions and venture capital and private equity financings for emerging growth companies.w

Bardia Dejban, Chief Technology Officer, has combined entrepreneurial, consumer product and enterprise software experiences that have helped him shape a philosophy of autonomy, transparency and simplicity. These traits serve as a catalyst and opportunity to create the best possible products for Volusion LLC customers by fueling a drive towards high-quality digital experiences that get shipped to market quickly and seamlessly.

Bardia is extremely passionate about driving positive change in organizations and fundamentally believes that people should always be the number one priority in every case: customers, employees and shareholders alike. Bardia holds an MBA from Pepperdine University. In his free time he likes to be with his family, visit new local spots, travel, go outdoors (hike, bike, walk) and solve problems he encountered during the week.

Randon Kelly, Vice President of Finance, is a key member of the decision-making team, working closely with executive leadership to drive growth and efficiencies. Randon is responsible for the financial planning, analysis and reporting activities.

Randon's leadership experience includes three years at GE Capital, 15 years at Dell, and serving as the Finance Director of Andrew Harper. For the two years prior to joining Volusion, Randon founded and ran his own financial management consulting company where Volusion was a client. This experience cemented his passion for helping small and medium sized businesses achieve success.

Sandra Nguyen, Vice President of People & Culture, leads two important teams within the organization: People & Culture and Recruiting. Her role is to ensure that Volusion continues to be a Top Workplace and hire the best talent to boost the organization’s goals.

Receiving her PHR in 2009, she has worked across multiple functions within the company, providing her with the skill set needed to craft high performing teams that continuously deliver on Volusion’s core values. A finalist in Austin Business Journal’s 2010 Central Texas Women of Influence, Sandra is a strong believer in forging her own path and developing innovative initiatives for the Volusion team.

Outside of work, you can often find Sandra on a golf course somewhere cheering on her two boys from the sidelines.

Vocabulary Guide

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

a

A/B test

ASAP

b

best-seller/best-selling

beta

business-to-business (or use B2B)

c

checkin (n.), check-in (adj.), check in (v.)

clickthrough (n.), click through (v.)

crowdsource, crowdsourcing

d

Dos/dont’s

Dropshipping

e

e.g. (Abbreviation meaning for example)

eBay

ebook

ecommerce

email

estore

everyday/every day info_outline

f

Facebook

g

Google

h

handheld

handheld (n.), hand-held (adj.)

hashtag

homepage

how-to

i

i.e.

Inbound marketing

internet (it is not capitalized!)

IT (Abbreviation for “information technology.”)

k

keyword

m

mashup (n., adj.), mash up (v.)

metadata

n

news feed

news release

non-essential

not-for-profit/nonprofit

o

OK

p

page view/pageviews

pay-per-click (or PPC)

percent (not %; ex. 100 percent)

plugin (n., adj.), plug in (v.)

podcast

q

Q&A

r

retweet

RSS

s

salesperson, salespeople

screen capture

screen name

screenshot

SEO

setup (n., adj.), set up (v.)

sidebar

sign-in (n., adj.), sign in, sign in to (v.)

sign-out (n., adj.), sign out, sign out of (v.)

sign-up (n., adj.), sign up, sign up to (v.)

site map

slideshow

smartphone

startup (n., adj.), start up (v.)

t

touchscreen

toward (not towards)

Twitter/tweet

u

up-and-coming

URL

U.S.

USA

username

v

voicemail

w

webinar

website

whitepaper

word-of-mouth

y

YouTube

Grammar Guide

Volusion has three primary brand goals for every piece of content we publish:

Commas

Use sparingly; try to break content up into separate sentences as often as possible. Use the AP Style comma — no comma between the second-to-last item and the and/or before the last item.

Use an em dash (—) with a space on either side of the couple. You can type this dash by hitting option + shift + - on your keyboard.

Correct: We sold a lot of coal last season — about two times more than the year before — and we almost didn't have the resources to keep up with demand.Incorrect: I always - and I mean always -- forget to use em dashes

Parenthesis

Keep punctuation inside only if it’s a complete sentence or an outlandish aside.

Correct: It's the easiest (and most important) way to connect with customers.Correct: She listed the item. (It took her an hour because she got distracted by BuzzFeed, but that's besides the point.)Correct: She felt so successful that she decided (of course!) to run for president.

Spaces

Don't do two in a row in between sentences. There needs to be only one. You actually never ever need to do double spaces for anything ever. No indentations, nothing.

Time

If it refers to when a show airs, a contest ends, etc. distinguish if it is Eastern Time (ET) Central Time (CT) Mountain Time (MT) or Pacific Time (PT).